


Katherine

by TVgirll1971



Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: While getting take-out, Will meets a woman and becomes instantly attracted to her. However, when he introduces her to the team, Frankie wonders if this woman can be trusted.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Katherine

**Author's Note:**

> Note- first paragraph of this story is exactly the same as the first paragraph of my fic "Year of the Mole." Bear with me, though, this is a completely different story. However, it's set in the same Season 4 period.

There was a mole in the FBI working for the Trust. That, in and of itself, was not news. The Trust was exposed years ago, along with the fact many of its members included officials in the intelligence community worldwide. It was the whole reason the team was formed. But this was different. Information was coming from multiple sources within the FBI. Initially, that suggested someone as high up as the Director. After all, Ollerman was dirty, it wasn’t a stretch to assume the same of his successor. Unfortunately, that line of reasoning was a total failure and almost led to the dissolution of the team. The team continued the investigation for months. Some leads were red herrings while some led to arrests. Unfortunately, those arrests couldn’t account for the amount of information leaked. With each arrest, their mole still eluded them. 

The never ending failure was weighing on Will. Normally, he was an optimistic guy but the situation was getting him down. After what seemed like the umpteenth failure, a frustrated Will begged off dinner with Frankie and decided to eat take out alone. Lost in thought in the take out line, Will suddenly heard a voice behind him. “I know the Sesame Chicken is good.” 

Will turned and saw a petite blonde, late-thirties, dressed in a blue blazer behind him. “Ooh, sorry.” “Uh, Sesame Chicken.” he then said to the guy behind the counter. Suddenly, Will had a thought and turned back to the pretty blonde. “Wait. What are you having? It’ll be my treat. You know, payment for holding up the line.”

The woman looked at Will in surprise and shook her head. “I can’t allow you to do that.”

“I want to.” Will insisted. Off her skeptical look, he added. “No strings, I promise. Just me being a nice guy.”

“Okay.” She replied, still wary. “Uh, I guess I’ll have the Sesame Chicken too.” As Will handed her order to her, he said. “I should probably introduce myself. Will Chase.”

“Kathrine Meadows.” She responded, in kind. As Will turned to leave, she suddenly called out. “Wait.” she said as she set her order and down and pulled out a business card. Writing on the back of the card, she continued. “I don’t normally do this, I swear. But you seem like a really nice guy.” As she handed Will the card, she added, “Here’s my number. Why don’t you give me a call sometime? We can meet up for lunch.”

Stood there, dumbfounded as she walked away. He then looked at the card, turned it over and broke out in a wide grin. “Son of a bitch. She’s FBI.”

Later, at home, Will spent the evening thinking about Katherine. Why shouldn’t he call her? He hadn’t been on a date for over a year. Not since he and Frankie—but well, that was over. The breakup was hard for him, but he eventually came to terms with it. So much, that he was able to accept Frankie with another man. When that fizzled, Will could’ve tried to pick up the pieces with Frankie but he didn’t because that would’ve been wrong. Frankie needed to deal with her breakup, not just rebound with Will. Besides, she’d made it perfectly clear that they can’t be partners and be emotionally involved. She believed that it compromised the mission and he had to respect that. After pining for Frankie for what seemed like forever, Will had finally gotten to a point where he could move on. So, why not do it now? With that thought in mind, Will picked up his phone and dialed. “Hi, Katherine. It’s Will. Listen, I’d like to take you up on your lunch offer.”

“So, why lunch?” Will asked Katherine while they were on their date. “Not that I’m complaining. I love a good lunch, but most…”

“First dates are dinner?” she finished for him. Shrugging she replied, “I always like my first dates to be lunches. There’s less pressure at lunch. It’s more casual. Not so intimidating.”

Will smiled. “And you pick a weekend, that way we don’t have to worry about going to work.”

“Yep.” She replied. 

During lunch, Will learned that Katherine was from Montana, her father was a rancher, her mother was a nurse, she was an only child, and she’d been working at the FBI for a little over ten years.

“So, you’re in the Cyber Crime division?” he asked.

“Yeah.” she responded, then added. “Nowhere near as exciting as Counterintelligence.”

“Hey,” Will argued. “The stuff you do is pretty important too.” 

As the lunch progressed, it turned out that Katherine had a lot in common with Will. She was outgoing, friendly, and she loved music and movies. Will found himself drawn to her sunny disposition and asked for a second date. “This time---dinner.”

Katherine perked up. “Ooh, what about dinner and a movie?”

Will chuckled. Yes. He really liked this girl.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Within a few short weeks, Will and Katherine bonded to the point that he was ready to introduce her to the team. He liked her—she was funny, easy to talk to. They had a rapport similar to the one he had with Emma. The whole team seemed to like her as well—with one exception.

“Honestly? I think something is off about her.” Frankie said after Will asked her opinion on Katherine.

“What do you mean?” he asked a little defensively.

“I don’t know. She just—she comes off all perky and bubbly. It’s like she’s trying too hard to be friendly.”

“Or she could just be friendly.” he suggested.

Frankie shrugged. “I don’t know. What was with all those questions she was asking about our jobs? ‘And what do you do, Standish?’”

“She was making conversation!” he insisted. Suddenly, Will chuckled. “Oh, my God. You’re jealous.” 

Frankie looked at him, incredulously. “No, I’m not.”

“You are.” He insisted. “Jake left you, now you can’t stand the fact that I’m with another woman.”

“Will, this is NOT about you being with another woman! I just—I just think something’s up with her.”

“Really? You know, I said the same thing about Jake and you said I was petty.” 

Frankie rolled her eyes. “Because you were wrong about him. You even said so yourself.”

“And *you’re* wrong now.” he insisted. “Look, you made it perfectly clear last year that we don’t work as a couple. I’ve accepted that. But you don’t get to tell me who I can and cannot date. You wanted me respect your boundaries. You have to do the same.”

“What do you think?” Frankie asked Susan at their regular hangout that evening. “Do you think I’m being jealous?”

Susan winced and replied. “Well, she seems nice enough to me.”

“That’s the problem.” Frankie stated. “She’s too nice. She comes across so chirpy. Like...?" Frankie searched for the words she wanted.

"Like a female version of Will?" Susan suggested.

Frankie rolled her eyes and shook her head as she went to take a bite of her food. “I don’t know. I just don’t trust her.”

“Okay, but maybe you should set that aside and try to be supportive for Will’s sake. Like he was when you were dating Jake.”

“Oh, you mean like when Will showed up at my door drunk?”

“Okay, it wasn’t the best start. But he came through in the end and that’s what you need to do for him.”

Frankie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. I’ll be supportive of Will and the twerp.”

Frankie did do her best to be supportive. She smiled and talked to Katherine whenever she’d see her at the Dead Drop, or when Frankie dropped in at Will’s place to talk about a mission. She sat there and listened while Will talked about the restaurants he took Katherine to or the rom coms they watched in his apartment. She didn’t gag and roll her eyes (the way she wanted to) when she caught him in the process of ordering a dozen pink roses for Katherine and attaching some sickly sweet card. Making it worse was the fact that Will recognized that it was a struggle. Him thanking her for making an effort to like Katherine made Frankie feel like a heel. There was no reason for her not to trust Katherine—other than a hunch and her hunches had been wrong before. After all, she was suspicious of Emma at first and she was wrong about her. 

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Meanwhile, the team continued to search for the elusive mole. That search led Standish to a surprising discovery— the firewalls of various government agencies had been breached. Suspecting this was the work of the mole, Standish delved further and discovered that money had been siphoned from those agencies. It didn’t take long for Standish to track the funds to an overseas account which, they ultimately discovered was linked to the Trust.

“Hey, you.” Katherine said with a huge smile when walked into the Dead Drop. There she saw Will, all alone, standing at the bar. “What’s up? Our date’s not til tonight.”

Will backed off before she had a chance to kiss him. “Sit down.” Will ordered, his face set like stone.

“Okay.” She said with a confused look on her face as she sat down at a table. “Is something wrong?”

Will sat across from her, his face serious. “You know that Standish is my computer guy, right? Well, a few weeks ago, he noticed that someone was embezzling money from various government agencies. Being the curious type, he did some digging and traced the money to an overseas account connected to the Trust.” 

“Really?” she asked, shifting in her seat a little.

“Yes.” Will replied. “As you’re aware from your time in Cyber Division, hackers often deploy software that makes it impossible to trace their IP address, since it’s always jumping around.”

“Of course,” she said.

“Eventually Standish was able to trace the IP address to a laptop in the FBI building here in New York. Of course, that led nowhere since the person who owned that laptop was cleared of any wrongdoing.” Will leaned forward and continued. “Then something occurred to Standish—computers can be remotely accessed. So, he did some more digging and guess what he found?”

Katherine suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I can explain.”

Will leaned back. “Explain what? That you’ve been funneling money to the Trust? What possible explanation could you have for that?”

Katherine began tearing up. “I didn’t have a choice. My mom’s sick—she needs treatment but it’s so expensive and I...” Wiping away her tears, she continued. “I just moved money from here to there. It was no big deal.”

“No big deal.” Will scoffed. “Then what? You were asked to get close to me.” 

Katherine blinked in surprise. “No. What was between us was real.”

Will laughed, humorlessly. “You expect me to believe that you just happened to start dating the leader of the team who’s hunting the terrorist organization you’re helping to fund?”

“It’s true.” she insisted. “I swear.”

“Oh, you swear?” Will said, sarcastically. “Well, that changes everything.” Suddenly, he changed the subject. “Someone in the Bureau’s been leaking information to the Trust for a while now. Is it you?”

“No.” she answered. “I just move money that’s all.”

“Really?” he asked, unconvinced, “Because someone with your knowledge of computers could have access to lots of information.”

“It’s not me.” she insisted. Katherine looked down and started to cry. “I’m sorry. I know you must think I’m terrible but I didn’t have a choice.”

Will shook his and said, derisively. “No. You had a choice. You could’ve reported this the *second* you were approached. Instead you chose to keep quiet—for a payday.”

“To help my mother.” She argued.

“And who’s going to help you mother when you’re in jail, Katherine? Did you consider that?” he asked. Standing up, he added. “Get up. I’m taking you in.”

Grabbing her, Will led Katherine out the door when a lone bullet caught her right between the eyes. Will darted out the door to see if he could spot the assassin. Though he did spot a sniper on the roof across the street, he knew there was no way he’d be able to catch up to him in time.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

"They got her.” Will said to Frankie as she sat down next to him at the bar. “She was barely out the door when Ollerman’s goons put a bullet in her head.”

“I know.” she replied as she touched his shoulder. “How are you doing?”

“Great.” he replied sarcastically. “for someone who just got played like a fiddle. I’m such an idiot.”

“Will…” she started to say.

“I’m so stupid.” He interrupted. “So charmed by her perkiness; she roped me right in!”

“Will, stop.” Frankie said. “Standish looked into Katherine’s laptop—she was telling the truth. There’s no indication that she was using you for information. All her dealings with the Trust were financial.”

Will didn’t seem relieved to hear that and continued with his tirade. “It doesn’t matter. I mean, what’s wrong with me? Why do I insist on assuming that everyone I meet is a good person? Why do I constantly give everyone the benefit of the doubt?”

“Because you’re a nice guy.” Frankie replied.

“Well, I shouldn’t be.” He noted. “I should be like you. Keep everyone at arm’s length until I know they can be trusted and even then, who knows?”

“Will, stop.” Frankie replied. “Seeing the good in people is who you are. You shouldn’t change that.”

“I should’ve listened to you. You said she was dirty.”

“No, I said something seemed off about her. Besides I was wrong. What I thought was a show was actually her own personality.” Leaning over and putting her arm around him, she added. “Hey. Don’t emulate me, Will. Your big heart is one of your best qualities. Don’t lose that.”

Will looked at her and sighed and then got up and left, dejected.

“Will! Wait!” Frankie called out as she walked over to him. “You’re a great guy. You’re one of the sweetest, kindest, most decent men I know. Any woman would be lucky to have you.” Suddenly, Wil lunged forward as if to kiss her, causing Frankie to step back. “Will, no.” she said, putting her hand out and shaking her head. “We can’t.”

Will sighed. “Because we’re partners.”

“There’s that but also, you *just* had your heart broken. Do you really think jumping into a relationship with me is a good idea? Besides, you deserve to be with someone you can trust your heart with and I don’t know if I’m that woman right now.” Frankie’s heart sank when she saw the sad look on Will’s face so she added. “Why don’t we just grab dinner? Then we can watch You’ve Got Mail. Would you like that?”

Will smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, partner.”

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Much later, Frankie sat deep in thought in the Dead Drop. The mole had finally been captured, which should’ve made everyone happy, but no one was really feeling any joy. Suddenly, she heard Will’s voice behind her.

“Hey. Penny for your thoughts.” 

Frankie smiled, sadly. “Just thinking about what a bad judge of character I am.”

“That’s not true.” Will replied.

Frankie shot him an incredulous look. “I trusted the wrong person, Will. But that’s not even the worst of it.” Taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts she continued. “I was so sure Katherine was the mole. Everything about her just seemed so fake. But it wasn’t. The whole time she was with us, she was sincere. On the other hand, this person I thought was so cool and easy to hang out with was using me.” She shook her head and shrugged. “How do I trust my instincts after this?”

“There’s nothing wrong with your instincts.” Will assured her. “People like me and Katherine are, are different than you so you don’t really understand them. Plus, considering how Tina infiltrated the team—it makes sense that someone with your temperament might be wary.”

“Then how do you explain who know who pulling the wool over my eyes?”

Will paused before answering. “A lot of people were fooled. Some people are just so good at connecting with other people…” Will tried to find the words but couldn’t really so he changed the conversation. “You know, this is about you. You bonded with someone almost immediately upon meeting them. Now, I know you did it with Susan but you had background on her. But to instantly trust someone on meeting them—it’s pretty huge for you.”

“Yes, and it was also stupid.”

Will shook his head. “But it wasn’t. Did you get burned? Yes. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. Making connections is important. Forming new friendships is important. You shouldn’t stop.” Off her conflicted look, he added. “Hey, after Katherine, you told me that my big heart was one of my best qualities. Do you still think that?”

“Well, yes.” she said.

“Well, then. You told me not to lose that. If it’s true for me, it should be true for you.”

Frankie smiled “Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had originally intended for Will & Frankie to get together at the end of this but, if that was to happen, she'd be a rebound and that didn't seem right. So, they're destined to be ships that pass in the night for a little while.
> 
> Frankie's ex-boyfriend, Jake, was seen in my fic "After the Breakup"
> 
> The elusive mole's identity was revealed in my fic "Year of the Mole."


End file.
